A Day in the Life

When you ask a person in Rwanda what they do, most will say they are a farmer. Its easy to see why – Rwanda is lush and green, and every inch land seems to be used for agriculture. Most child-headed households in the countryside have small parcels of land left from their parents and on which they grow food. For most of these “farmers” the activities associated with farming – such as selling your produce at the market – simply do not apply. All of them are growing food for subsistence only – they eat what they grow. Some of the kids are supported by extended families that will share extra crops if they have them, or give the children some kerosene. This subsistence life means that these hardworking children are extremely poor – there is no money for school fees, kerosene or candles, or any extra food. A day in the life for these children means fetching water (which could be an hour’s walk each way), working in their garden, cooking a basic meal and going to bed when it gets dark, which in central Africa is between 6:00 and 7:00 pm.

As soon as I met them and listened to their stories, it was clear that the radios would have a tremendous, positive impact on their lives. The children spoke about how they felt isolated and lonely, how they were uncomfortable imposing on neighbours to listen to radio programmes, how they were tired of relying on others to pass on information. They wanted to listen first-hand from the voices they trusted on the radio. They were eager to learn and spoke of their plans to invite people over to listen to programmes and of how they were going to share with their friends as they worked in the garden everyday. The more the kids spoke about what they were going to do with their radios, the more they became visibly and excited. A day in their lives was about to change for the better with their radio!